They finished up the game. He had ‘allowed’ her to win – Judith knew this but she didn’t let on. As she started packing the board away, he picked up the red set of dice – his dice – took out a small hand-carved box from his pocket and placed them carefully inside.

‘Where d’you get that from?’ she said, admiring its craftsmanship.

‘Ha, I found it when I was clearing out the shed.’ He snapped it shut. ‘I must have made it years ago when I was bored.’ He handed her the box. ‘I want you to take it with you. Who knows – you may play the backgammon on your travels, eh?’

She knew by this he meant, You may play the backgammon when you visit Cyprus on your travels. It was strange how they never really talked about his homeland. She’d often tried to, but her questions were always met with one-word answers or an abrupt change of subject.

From the snippets of information she’d gathered over the years, she knew he was from a place called Kakopetria, and that he had no family over there any more. He was an only child and his parents had died before he’d left. He’d said it was all so long ago, it seemed like another life. ‘I’m a Taffy boy now, isn’t it?’ he’d joke.

She held the little box in her hand, feeling its smooth edges that she knew he’d have lovingly sanded. ‘But if I take your dice,’ she said, ‘you can’t play when I’m not here.’

‘Who else ’m I gonna play with?’ he laughed. ‘No one else is as good as you!’

It was the strangest of moments. Anyone watching would have said he was sharing a simple little joke with his eighteen-year-old stepdaughter, making her feel good about herself before she went off on her milestone holiday. But she knew there was more going on. She just couldn’t pinpoint what.

He reached out and held her hand. ‘You are going to have such an adventure, Judi-moo,’ he said, using his pet name for her which he’d used for as long as she could remember.

‘We’re gonna pack in a ridiculous amount, I know that.’

He paused, then smiled. ‘Not just on this holiday. In life!’

She frowned. ‘Dad, are you OK?’

His lip trembled and he looked as if he was about to say something more. Then came an urgent knocking on the back gate. The cats leapt up in defence.

‘Hello? Mr Harris, are you there?’ said a voice neither of them recognized.

George got up and walked to the gate, undoing both bolts. Standing on the other side was a female police officer.

‘Oh, thank goodness. I don’t think your doorbell’s working …’

‘What’s happened? What is the matters?’ asked George. His English always faltered when he was distressed.

‘You are Mr Harris, I take it?’

‘Yes,’ Judith and George answered simultaneously.

The police officer took a deep breath. ‘Right, sir. Well, I’m afraid it’s about your wife.’